Surfboard Foam: The Problems

Dear Surfboard purchasing public,
How are you? I hope your doing well, Personally I must say I’ve missed you. Its been since early December a few years back on that fateful day when the foam died. I kind of felt like I had to withdraw, step back and see what surfing's great minds had in store for us. Industrious anything to make a buck people got creative. Lets try and make newer, safer, better and friendlier foam. Some of them came up with fairly descent foam. But didn’t have the know how to finish their product.We can’t really laminate a blank when resin is leaking all the way through it. A couple of entrepreneurs with uppity credentials, like aeronautical engineers went poor quick. They tried and tried and never could produce anything close to a decent blank. Easier said than done. For a couple of years these guys had me convinced that Grubby Clark must have been an absolute genius.
Reintroducing Styrofoam and epoxy, lighter more Eco friendly. More likely to blow up, take on water, melt down or cause major allergic reactions to certain human beings. Not enough flex is another problem. Don’t worry research has shown that if we weaken the epoxy by over sanding it we can provide greater over all flexibility which equals increased ride ability. But that non positive grabby feeling might still remain.
How about these composite boards, man do they look cool. Years ago when I worked for Hi Tech Sailboards we vacuum bagged, skinned and structurally strengthened cores with high density foams. The strongest = lightest known materials were used on every board we hand made. They were lightweight, state of the art flying machines. In most cases after one years use they retained absolutely no resale value.
Molded surfboards should take up only a small space in the surf shop. The beginner boards and buoys section. Some where within the area labeled, for kooks only. Oh yeah there a pretty good deal for the sellout pro or label owner who feels a need to pad his wallet. Molded sailboards are another animal all together. No flex, no problem. To light, just right. Guaranteed against defects for a year or your money back. And they put us custom sailboard builders all but out of business. Only a small contingent of the old faithful wind surfers remain loyal to polyester. On the other hand surfboards have a life uniquely all their own and its completely about flex. To much or not enough and a surfboard will become lethargic or unresponsive. Forever, will the molded surfboard be taking up room in our landfills. Please if you own one pass it on to the next kook.

Solutions coming soon....